Municipality Šoštanj

The municipality lies in the western part of the Šaleška valley along the lower stream of the Paka river. It is mainly oriented towards services and industry, especially the production of electricity in the Šoštanj power plant.

Municipality
Šoštanj, which is part of the Savinjska statistical region, measures 96 km2;
this ranks it 74th among Slovene municipalities.

Statistical
data for 2012 reveal the following:

In the
middle of 2012 about 8,750 people (about 4,500 men and 4,250 women) were living
in the municipality, which ranks Šoštanj 58th among Slovene
municipalities. The population density was 92 people per square kilometre,
which was lower than the national average of 101 people per square kilometre.

The
number of live births was higher than the number of deaths, which means that
natural increase per 1,000 population in the municipality was positive. It was
0.2 (in Slovenia 1.3). The number of people who
moved from the municipality was higher than the number of people who moved into
the municipality, so net migration per 1,000 population in the municipality was
negative. It was -4.5. The sum of natural increase and net migration per 1,000
population in the municipality was negative. It was -4.2 (in Slovenia 1.6).

The
mean age of people in Šoštanj was 41.2 years, which was lower than the national
average (42).

As in
most Slovene municipalities, in Šoštanj the number of old people was higher
than the number of young people: there were 104 people, aged 65 or more, per
100 people aged 0–14. This ratio shows that the value of the ageing index was lower
than the national average of 118. It also shows that the mean age of people in Šoštanj
is growing more slowly than in Slovenia as a whole. Data by sex show that the
ageing index for women was in all Slovene municipalities higher than the ageing
index for men. In Šoštanj – as in most Slovene municipalities – more women were
65+ years old than 14 or less; for men the situation was exactly the opposite.

Šoštanj
had 6 kindergartens. They were attended by 349 children or 73% of all children
aged 1–5, which was less than the national average of 75%. In the school year 2012/2013
basic schools in Šoštanj were attended by about 760 pupils, while various upper
secondary schools were attended by about 380 pupils. There were 50 students and
13 graduates per 1,000 people in the municipality; in Slovenia the averages
were 47 per 1,000 and 10 per 1,000, respectively.

Among
people aged 15–64 (i.e. working age population) about 59% were persons in
employment (i.e. persons in paid employment or self-employed persons), which is
more than the national average of 57%.

The
registered unemployment rate was 11.6%, which is less than the national average
(12%). As in most Slovene municipalities, more women than men were unemployed.

In Šoštanj,
average monthly gross earnings per person employed by legal persons were about
8% higher than the annual average of monthly earnings for Slovenia; and net
earnings about 7% higher.

In 2012,
there were 353 dwellings per 1,000 population. About 65% of dwellings had at
least three rooms. Average size of dwellings in the municipality was 89 m2.

Every
other person in Šoštanj had a car (51 passenger cars
per 100 population); cars in this municipality were on average 9 years old.

In
2012, 273 kg of municipal waste per person was collected in Šoštanj, which is 54
kg less than on average in Slovenia.